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2 Mets players who've earned an apology from their doubters, 2 not quite there
It's nice to see some Mets players play better.
The 2023 season has obviously been an abysmal one for the New York Mets. What once felt like World Series or bust entering the season turned into the Mets selling some veterans including Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer at the deadline in exchange for prospects.
A big reason the Mets found themselves so far out of contention that they opted to sell was because of some underperforming players. Fortunately, as the season has gone on, even with the team not anywhere close to a postseason spot, a couple of players who started off so awfully have earned apologies from their doubters. Two others are on that same path, but haven't quite done enough yet to earn it.
NY Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor has earned an apology from his doubters
No Met has had the ups and downs Francisco Lindor has had during his time in New York. It feels like he's either playing at an MVP level or he's playing like a below average shortstop.
The Mets got the latter through the first couple of months of the season, and it's partly why the team got off to such a slow start. Lindor, hitting primarily second and third in the order, was slashing .211/.289/.411 with 12 home runs and 44 RBI through June 16. He hit for power, but did virtually nothing else offensively. Lindor and his wife Katia wound up having their second child, Amapola on June 17.
Since her berth, he's been the MVP-caliber player fans have come to expect. He's slashed .307/.394/.533 with ten home runs and 31 RBI in the 54 games he's played in since June 17.
Lindor's prolonged hot stretch has him back in the top-five in all of baseball in fWAR. He's performed like a superstar offensively to go along with his usual Gold Glove-caliber defense at shortstop. Anyone who thought Lindor was anything less than the player the Mets pay him to be has already apologized by now. At least I hope.
NY Mets pitcher David Peterson has been better, but hasn't quite earned an apology yet
It's been a lost year for David Peterson. He was expected to be rotation depth, but was strung into the Opening Day rotation for a second consecutive season. He rewarded the Mets for their confidence in him by pitching the worst baseball of his career to start the year.
Through eight starts, the southpaw had an unfathomable 8.80 ERA in 39 innings pitched. The Mets were 1-7 in his starts, and Peterson, for the most part, was completely uncompetitive on the mound. His early-season struggles caused the Mets to send him down to the minors even with how thin they were depth-wise.
Peterson returned to the club in late June because they simply needed an arm and he delivered his best start of the season. Six scoreless frames against the Brewers. Since returning to the majors for that start, he's pitched more like the pitcher fans had been expecting. He has a 2.47 ERA in 12 appearances (six starts) and now has a shot at potentially earning a rotation spot for 2024 and beyond if he can pitch well down the stretch.
The reason I can't say Peterson has quite earned the apology yet is because even with the low ERA, he still doesn't look like a MLB-caliber starting pitcher. Take his last start at home against a subpar Pirates team. He lasted just 3.1 innings, limited them to one run but gave up three hits and walked six batters while hitting one more. There's a reason he has a
Peterson has certainly been better than he was, but let's not ignore his 4.63 FIP during this improved stretch. He still has a lot to work on.
NY Mets infielder Jeff McNeil has earned an apology from his doubters
For much of this season, it felt like there was an imposter wearing Jeff McNeil's uniform each and every night. He just couldn't get anything going offensively, and had even taken a slight step back defensively.
Through the month of July, McNeil was slashing .252/.329/.329 with three home runs and 34 RBI. Yes, the reigning NL batting champ who had hit over .300 in four of his five MLB seasons saw his batting average dip by over 70 points. Additionally, McNeil's slugging matched his OBP. He's not a home run hitter, nor is he expected to be, but McNeil wasn't hitting doubles anymore. He had 39 last season and had just 16 through July.
Thankfully, the month of August has brought the old McNeil back. He's slashing .313/.356/.463 with three home runs and 12 RBI this month. We're starting to see him spray the ball to all fields like he had done for the vast majority of his career, and he's hitting over .300 again in a month!
McNeil has hits in all but four games this month, including six multi-hit games. Three of those games saw McNeil record three hits. Simply put, he's showing that he can still be the McNeil of old. No, the Mets should not trade him for nothing just to dump his contract.
NY Mets DH Daniel Vogelbach has been better, but hasn't quite earned an apology yet
The player a large contingent of Mets fans have blamed for the disastrous 2023 season is Daniel Vogelbach. The player brought here to be the primary DH against right-handed pitching simply wasn't doing his job close to the level he had to in order for the team to stick with him for as long as they did. At least that's what it felt like.
Vogelbach had a miserable start to his season, slashing .203/.343/.297 with two home runs and 14 RBI through his first 47 games and 118 at-bats. Yes, 118 bats in the Mets DH had just two longballs and had his slugging percentage nearly 50 points lower than his OBP. Simply unacceptable.
Vogelbach was given a week off to mentally reset, and he went on a little hot streak for a week before falling back into another big slump. Vogelbach had a .649 OPS in his last 22 games after that mini streak before the deadline and felt like one of the players who was going to either be traded or DFA'd. It turns out, the Mets held onto their DH, and have seen that move pay dividends.
The DH has an .821 OPS in 13 games since the deadline with three home runs in 36 at-bats including a grand slam in St. Louis. This is nice to see, but a 13-game stretch when the team is out of it isn't enough to make up for the .698 OPS he had before the deadline. Let's see if he can finish the season strong.
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